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Thursday, October 29, 2009

I can't believe it took me this long to find out about Pretty Lights. This has to be one of the best "new" artist I've found this year. I've had his albums on repeat for the last couple of days and I can't say enough good things about his work...but...I am getting ahead of myself...let me start over....

Pretty Lights is Colorado based producer Derek Vincent Smith and when performing live, drummer Cory Eberhard . Pretty Lights , in a nutshell, makes instrumental hip hop with an electronic bent. To say that's all he does would really be a disservice to him. His music has soul. It's funky. It's got all kinds of samples amazingly put together and it also has just enough electronic flavor to separate it from the typical hip hop instrumental crowd.

He has 3 full albums (one is a double disc) on his website FOR FREE (go to the downloads page, duh!)! He is doing an insane amount of touring and if you get a chance...GO SEE HIM! You will not forget it.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

If you are not aware (you must be living under a rock!), DJ Hero is is a music video game developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision as a rhythm game similar to Guitar Hero. It was released on October 27, 2009 in North America and on October 30, 2009 in Europe. The game is based on turntablism and features more than 80 remixes of two different songs from a selection of over 100 different songs across numerous genres. To score points, the player must press buttons to activate accented beats, adjust their crossfade between the two songs, and "scratch" the turntable on the game's custom controller in time to marks that scroll on the screen to score points and perform well for the virtual crowd. The game features both a single player Career mode and cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes. The game also features a mode for selected songs for a DJ player to play alongside another player using a Guitar Hero guitar controller.

Many DJ and mix artists have contributed to the game both in the game's development, the creation of mixes, and in lending their images for playable avatars in the game; these including DJ Shadow, Z-Trip, DJ AM, Cut Chemist, J.Period, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Daft Punk.

Here is a lovely article about the game and yours truly even gets a mention.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

In late 1998, I was commissioned to compile and produce the soundtrack for a sequel to the film "Tron". A draft of the story had already been written and early filming had begun (as reported by ZDNet on July 27, 1999). As I understand it, the film was kept in great confidence with the producers as Pixar was still in negotiations with Disney about the responsibilities of the production teams.

"Rise Of The Virals" was a fantastic, but much darker storyline from the original -- different from the "Into The Machine" pitch made to Disney by another party. It involved updating the ENCOM universe to a networked system (thanks to the Internet), but also created a darker world -- full of programs abandoned as buggy systems (or "mutants") and abused by corrupt users as viral systems. Furthermore, the story included the death of Flynn and presented questions about the digital life of programs lasting beyond the mortality of their creators -- the users.

My task was to compile great underground artists to create a new soundtrack for this darker world of Tron. After the completion of the initial tracklist and first production draft of the soundtrack, it seemed as if negotiations between Pixar and Disney had broken down. Funding for the project was eventually pulled.

I have been most excited to see the announcement of the third film, the new "TR2N" (Tron: Legacy), especially with the involvement of those who will be creating the new soundtrack. It is obvious to me that "Tron: Legacy" takes place after "The Rise Of The Virals" without abandoning its first concept. Perhaps that is why we've seen sites like Flynn Lives creep up in anticipation of the new film.

I've decided to release the preliminary version of the soundtrack which includes a special remix of Journey's "Any Way You Want It" produced specifically for "Rise Of The Virals". Journey provided two songs to the original "Tron", and their song "Separate Ways" will reportedly be on the "Legacy" soundtrack as well. In any case, since the story of "Rise Of The Virals" takes place between the first "Tron" film and the upcoming "Tron 2: Legacy", I can't think of a better title for this material other than "Tron 1.5". I hope you enjoy the music these artists have put such great work into.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I know...I'm a little late to the party. My buddy Zach (also known as Xodus, he does some kick ass fidget stuff as well!) recently turned me on to Mightyfools and boy am I glad he did.

Mightyfools are a DJ duo based out of the Netherlands. They rock the funky, fidget, wobbly, electro hell out of everything I've heard from them. This Australian tour mix (below) is what got me into them and I am sure it will suck you in as well.

I am not sure how many of you out there are familiar with the NBC show Community. It is a quirky show that is loads of fun and has a great cast. The main lead is Joel McHale from Talk Soup on E! and Chevy Chase co-stars. It is in it's first season and getting funnier by the episode.

DJ Steve Porter has decided to take snippets from the show and make a remix and here it is. I have had this on repeat for a while. Too funny.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

This has been such a great year for music. Here is yet another great band I stumbled upon.

The Happy Hollows. They are an Indie rock band from California.

Check out the whole album in the player below or at their site.

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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

I was checking my email the other day and Neil, better known as Team 9, had sent this lovely bit of mix tape/cut up goodness to me. I have had it on repeat for the last couple of days. It's loads of fun and some of it is borderline sublime.

In his own words. "It is with great pleasure that we present to you the debut album by The Found Sound Orchestra. Since forming The Orchestra for a quick collaboration with comedian David Cross on Stereogum’s Radiohead tribute album, we've spent two years sourcing the very best trumpet honking, guitar wahing, string drenched, flute twiddling, key plonking summer-esque, psychedelic sounds that Perth’s used record emporiums can offer. So, we offer up ‘Memorabilica’ for the Australian summer to come – for the birds in the sky, the flowers in bloom and to celebrate the fact that life can sometimes be sparkling and beautiful. Hippies - ya gotta love ‘em. Alternatively I have been told it works quite well as background music for 70's themed swinger parties. Go on, throw in your keys.....

This album has been massively influenced by the music of our heroes Steinski, Coldcut and Bomb the Bass and it is our hope that it can be slotted in your iPod collection alongside current classics by The Avalanches, Quiet Village and Air France. It’s a big ask but here’s hoping you give it a go."